~ Exploring Modernist Cuisine in the Northwest

I had an opportunity to leave town for a week, so I decided to hop on over to NYC to visit old friends and catch up with the city. I didn’t do a major gastropocalypse tour this time around, hitting all the necessary landmarks like EMP, Momofuku, Per Se, etc. As far as food goes, this is what you need to know: Brooklyn is happening, and take your appetite to Martha, Glady’s, and Chuko. I also found an amazing old bar that is stuck in the 1970s and is a killer place to have a drink and be left alone, and in that spirit I’ll keep that one to myself.

But this post isn’t about food, it’s about Ferran. Ferran Adria, chef of elBulli, one of the great artists of our time. The Drawing Center in Manhattan had the first major museum exhibition to focus on his drawings and concepts. I, of course, went to see it. Little did I know I’d soon see him myself.

Several months ago Scott, Chris and myself got together to do a cooking session. We were into frying all sorts of things that night – chicken, of course, and strawberries as well (which turned out really gross). Then we turned our attention to the humble french fry. And then something happened.

In the world of crispness, it’s all about the bubbles. Or at least, the sound of bubbles popping. Studies at Oxford University have shown that when we bite into a surface filled with small brittle cells, each fracture releases a quick burst of high-frequency sound. The more fractures in a bite, the more bursts of sound, and the more crispy the food seems to be. So how do we make things super crispy? Why, we add bubbles. Through carbonation to be exact. Let’s try it out with onion rings.

Scott’s vision to introduce the world to the wonders of sous vide cooking took a huge step this morning when the Sansaire Kickstarter closed this morning with 4084 backers contributing over $823,000 dollars. It is now the most funded food Kickstarter ever. If you missed out on the Kickstarter, you can pre-order units at the Sansaire website.

A big congrats to the Sansaire team – we’re looking forward to heating up perfect eggs and tender steaks. In the meantime, just one thing comes to mind: BOOM.

Two and a half hours north of Seattle, on a small island, resides a bed and breakfast that serves up Michelin star quality food where the ingredients are all locally sourced. It sounds like the beginning of some mysterious story, a combination of the remoteness of ElBulli with the locavore philosophy of Noma. And you would be correct. Welcome to The Willows Inn.

Jet City Gastrophysics co-founder, Director of Applied Research at Modernist Cuisine, recipient of Forbes 30 Under 30 award, and all around awesome dude Scott Heimendinger has really done it this time. He’s taken his DIY $75 sous vide immersion circulator and scaled it up to a full fledged commercial project – the Sansaire sous vide circulator. Raising funds using Kickstarter, he and his team have managed to achieve their goal of $100,000 in just 13 hours. And it’s still going – over $485,000 at the time this was published.

But just how did he get from tinkering at home to mass production? Well, let me tell you.

It’s been hot around Seattle – 80 degree days for weeks now. We have adapted quickly and now everyone is throwing BBQ’s as much as possible. This is of course a perfect excuse to continue making the sauces and rubs out of The Work and eating them. And so I have.

It’s been a bit since a new post has been put up – the longest since this blog has started. Not to say there hasn’t been cooking going on, just life got in the way and so a pause took place. I’ve even managed to mangle some Modernist Cuisine recipes that weren’t fit for posting. But not yesterday. The Fourth of July brought friends together for BBQ and fireworks. I opened The Work to try out some new sauces besides the BBQ sauces I’ve already done: South Carolina and Kentucky.

It’s been absolutely beautiful in Seattle the past few weeks. The sun has been out, the flowers are in full bloom, and generally the malaise that creeps into people’s day to day personalities after months of cloud cover has given way to smiles and laughter. And lots of exposed white, pale skin.

The food has changed as well as the smell of BBQs has been in the air while we enjoy a respite from the gray skies. I wanted a light snack that fit the warm days, and chose melon slices. That get glued together. As you do.